%HEADER%

<div id="nav">
  <ul>
    <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li>
    <li><a href="examples.html">Examples</a></li>
    <li><a href="downloads.html">Downloads</a></li>
    <li><a href="javadoc/index.html">Documentation</a></li>
    <li id="current"><a href="faq.html">FAQ</a></li>
    <li><a href="support.html">Support</a></li>
    <li><a href="contribute.html">Contribute</a></li>
  </ul>
</div>

%BODY%

<h3>Frequently Asked Questions</h3>

<div class="section">
<p>
  Licensing Questions
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#license">What license does the MOEA Framework use?</a>
    <li><a href="#whyfree">Why is the MOEA Framework free?</a>
    <li><a href="#otherlicenses">How can I license the MOEA Framework under a 
        different license?</a>
  </ul>
</p>

<p>
  General Questions
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#whyuse">Why should I choose the MOEA Framework?</a>
    <li><a href="#singleormulti">What are the benefits of multiobjective optimization?</a>
    <li><a href="#minimization">How can I maximize an objective?</a>
    <li><a href="#citing">How do I cite the MOEA Framework?</a>
  </ul>
</p>
</div>

<div class="section">
<a name="license"></a>
<h4>What license does the MOEA Framework use?</h4>

<p>
  The MOEA Framework is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License
  (GNU LGPL).  The full terms and conditions of this license can be read
  <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html">here</a>.
</p>

<p>
  <a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
</p>
</div>

<div class="section">
<a name="whyfree"></a>
<h4>Why is the MOEA Framework free?</h4>

<p>
  The MOEA Framework is provided free-of-charge under the terms of the GNU
  Lesser General Public License (GNU LGPL).  Part of the terms of this license
  state that any modifications to the MOEA Framework itself must also be
  distributed under the GNU LGPL.  This is the so-called "copyleft" nature of
  the GNU licenses &mdash; derivations of the software are required to follow
  the same license.
</p>

<p>
  This means that any individual, school or business that modifies and
  distributes the MOEA Framework must make those modifications available to us.
  As a result, we (and the user community) directly benefit from any bug fixes
  and enhancements made to the modified version.  Free and open software also
  attracts a community of developers who use, test and improve the project.
</p>

<p>
  <a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
</p>
</div>

<div class="section">
<a name="otherlicenses"></a>
<h4>How can I license the MOEA Framework under a different license?</h4>

<p>
  The GNU Lesser General Public License (GNU LGPL) allows you to link to and 
  distribute the MOEA Framework JAR file in a software bundle using any license
  of your choosing.  Note that the MOEA Framework itself and any derivations
  will still be licensed under the GNU LGPL.  However, in some cases, even a 
  permissive license like the GNU LGPL may be incompatible with the licensing 
  requirements of a business.  For instance, the GNU LGPL may be incompatible if
</p>

<p>
  <ol>
    <li>your legal jurisdiction does not recognize open source licenses;
    <li>your organization's legal department requires you to obtain tangible 
        licenses for all third-party libraries used in your products; or
    <li>you wish to make proprietary changes to the MOEA Framework itself and
        need a closed source license.
  </ol>
</p>

<p>
  Please contact 
  <a href="mailto:admin@moeaframework.org">admin@moeaframework.org</a> for
  such licensing concerns.
</p>

<p>
  <a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
</p>
</div>

<div class="section">
<a name="compatability"></a>
<h4>Can I upgrade to the latest version?</h4>

<p>
  We suggest always using the latest version when possible, as the latest
  version will include bug fixes and other improvements.  We guarantee
  compatability with newer version with the same major version number.  For
  example, version 1.2 is compatible with version 1.8, since they both share the
  major version number of 1.x.
</p>

<p>
  When the developers and maintainers decide that an API is outdate or has been
  replaced by a newer feature, that portion of the API will be marked as
  <i>deprecated</i>.  The deprecation flag alerts users that that portion of the
  API is no longer maintained and may be removed at a future date.  Deprecated
  API will be removed at the next major version release.  For example, all
  deprecated classes and methods in version 1.8 will be removed in version 2.0.
</p>

<p>
  <a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
</p>
</div>

<div class="section">
<a name="whyuse"></a>
<h4>Why should I choose the MOEA Framework?</h4>

<p>
  We recommend exploring the options available to pick the library which best
  suites your needs.  The libraries listed below represent a small sampling of
  the optimization libraries currently available.
</p>

<ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.tik.ee.ethz.ch/pisa/">PISA</a> (Multilingual)
  <li><a href="http://jmetal.sourceforge.net/">JMetal</a> (Java)
  <li><a href="http://cs.gmu.edu/~eclab/projects/ecj/">ECJ</a> (Java)
  <li><a href="http://shark-project.sourceforge.net/2.1.0/doc/index.html">Shark
      Machine Learning Library</a> (C++)
  <li><a href="http://eodev.sourceforge.net/">Evolving Objects</a> (C++)
  <li><a href="http://code.google.com/p/ecspy/">ECsPy</a> (Python)
</ul>

<p>
  The MOEA Framework differs from these projects in several key ways.  First,
  due to its ability to directly integrate with third-party optimization 
  libraries, the MOEA Framework provides access to the most state-of-the-art 
  algorithms and test problems.  This includes 20 algorithms from the PISA and 
  JMetal libraries.
</p>

<p>
  Second, the MOEA Framework specializes in multiobjective optimization.  This
  is different from many optimization libraries, which provide single-objective
  optimization by default.  By specializing in multiobjective optimization, we
  can provide a suite of tools tailored to multiobjective optimization.  If you
  plan on working primarily with single-objective problems, it may be worthwhile
  to use a single-objective optimization library instead.
</p>

<p>
  Third, the MOEA Framework is built as an academic tool.  As a result, it
  includes a number of analytical and statistical tools for performing
  rigorous experimentation.  Also, correctness of the results is a critical
  concern, and a collection of over 900 unit tests for validating the code is
  in place.
</p>

<p>
  Lastly, we have put forward considerable effort to provide and maintain
  up-to-date documentation and examples.  The source code is fully documented
  and follows industry-standard best practices.
</p>

<p>
  <a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
</p>
</div>

<div class="section">
<a name="singleormulti"></a>
<h4>What are the benefits of multiobjective optimization?</h4>

<p>
  Historically, researchers developing optimization tools focused on problems
  with only one objective.  For example, the well-known 
  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_salesman_problem">traveling
  salesman problem</a> attempts to minimize the distance a salesman must travel
  between cities.  By refining the driving route between each city, the salesman
  can reduce the distance traveled.
</p>

<p>
  However, many real-world problems are not this simple.  For example, a
  CPU manufacturer designing a new fabrication facility may wish to
  minimize the facility construction costs, minimize processor cost, maximize
  throughput and minimize the defect rate.  Many of these goals are 
  contradictory to one another.  For instance, using a more reliable 
  manufacturing process may decrease the defect rate, but will likely incur
  additional costs.
</p>

<p>
  Formulating a problem with multiple objectives allows the optimization
  algorithm to find tradeoffs between the objectives.  Rather than producing a
  single optimal solution, as is the case with single objective optimization,
  multiobjective optimization produces a collection of optimal solutions, called
  Pareto optimal solutions.  This collection of Pareto optimal solutions 
  captures the tradeoffs among the objectives.  No improvements are 
  possible, as any improvement to an objective will degrade other objectives.
</p>

<p>
  If we were to instead formulate the problem with a single objective, none of 
  this tradeoff analysis would be possible.  In addition, attempting to 
  condense multiple objectives into a single objective problem potentially 
  introduces bias and hinders search.  Therefore, it is recommended to solve
  problems with multiple objectives with multiobjective optimization.
</p>

<p>
  <a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
</p>
</div>

<div class="section">
<a name="minimization"></a>
<h4>How can I maximize an objective?</h4>

<p>
  The MOEA Framework currently only supports minimized objectives.  As such, any
  maximized objectives must be converted to minimized objectives.  This can be
  accomplished by negating the objective value.
</p>

<p>
  <a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
</p>
</div>

<div class="section">
<a name="citing"></a>
<h4>How do I cite the MOEA Framework?</h4>

<p>
  We ask that academic researchers who use the MOEA Framework in their
  research provide an in-text citation, such as the one shown below.  This not
  only gives credit to the software, but also aids reproducibility by 
  identifying the software and the specific version used for the research.
</p>

<p>
  <blockquote>
    <p>
      ... used the MOEA Framework (http://www.moeaframework.org), version %VERSION%, ...
    </p>
  </blockquote>
</p>

<p>
  If the org.moeaframework.analysis.sensitivity package is used in any way, we
  ask that researchers cite the following paper.  This paper introduces the
  analytical tools available in this package.
</p>

<p>
  <blockquote>
    <p>
      Hadka, D. and Reed, P.  "Diagnostic Assessment of Search Controls
      and Failure Modes in Many-Objective Evolutionary Optimization."
      Evolutionary Computation (In-Press).
    </p>
  </blockquote>
</p>

<p>
  <a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
</p>
</div>
 
%FOOTER%